Oilers News

"Lowe -- who really does not appear to like this Brian Burke fellow at all -- could not help but gloat somewhat that the Oilers finished strong, while Anaheim crashed in the playoffs, bringing about the current smallish spread in their respective draft positions: "It's quite a bit different than the scenario that was painted some months ago when the sky was falling according to some, and particularly a loud mouth fellow down south." So Kevin Lowe, channeling Muhammad Ali, comes up with the perfect nickname: Burke, the Mouth from the South. "

" A player with a bad knee and without a contract would be a fool to play in a tournament, so you can't blame Pitkanen for protecting his livelihood. As for his contract talks, they haven't started yet, but Pitkanen is already taking heat for an opening offer in the $5 to $6 million range. Lowe, however, says it wasn't their opening offer, but, rather, a figure from a year ago, when they first acquired him from Philadelphia and were kicking around a long-term deal... Pitkanen is a restricted free agent, so he doesn't have a lot of options."

" After all of Brian Burke's razor-tongued taunts about the first round pick he received for Dustin Penner, how it would surely be a lottery selection given the way Kevin Lowe was driving his franchise into the muck, Edmonton finished last season as one of the hottest teams in the league. So the Ducks will choose 12th, not first, in the June entry draft. And after all the fears in Edmonton that a deep playoff run by Anaheim would render the first-round pick they received in the Chris Pronger trade virtually useless, the Ducks bowed out in the first round. The Oilers will pick 22nd, not 30th."

" Kevin Lowe made record time in securing three of his biggest free agents this year, re-signing Tom Gilbert, Robert Nilsson and Denis Grebeshkov a week into the off-season. But the most pressing item left on his summer To Do list won't be quite as easy to check off. While the Gilbert, Nilsson, and Grebeshkov contracts are already done, and talks with Curtis Glencross have begun, the Oilers haven't even started negotiations with defenceman Joni Pitkanen, and won't until after the World Championships. "

"Rob Daum might not return to the University of Alberta to coach with his three-year leave of absence over, but he's not sure if he's coming back to be an Edmonton Oilers assistant coach, either. Daum, who signed a one-year contract with the Oilers last summer when Craig Simpson left to be a Hockey Night in Canada colour commentator, is in a state of limbo. He was an injection of new blood to the coaching staff, but the NHL season's been over for three weeks and there's no indication if Daum will be rehired."

" Hell hath no fury like Edmonton Oilers fans scorned, at least when it comes to criticism of Oilers General Manager Kevin Lowe that is."

"Edmonton Oilers goaltender Mathieu Garon will be announced and introduced as a member of Team Canada here today. As revealed in yesterday's Edmonton Sun, 18-year-old rookie Sam Gagner will also be announced today as being added to the roster of players who were previously announced. "

"Mathieu Garon might never set foot in the crease on game day and Sam Gagner will only come out of the stands if the injury bug bites Team Canada. But the third goalie and 14th forward are proud and pleased nonetheless to wear the Maple Leaf at next month's World Hockey Championship in Halifax and Quebec City. Both Oilers will be officially unveiled as Team Canada players today at a news conference in Quebec City when management fleshes out the 23-man roster."

"Q: What are the chances of Brian Campbell or Marian Hossa coming to the Oilers as free agents?... A: Zip. Campbell, who's done some wonderful things in San Jose, will almost surely re-sign in San Jose for five or six years and $6.5 million a year."

" At the start of the season, Denis Grebeshkov had problems finding a spot in the Edmonton Oilers lineup. By the end of it, he was one of the team's best defencemen. Yesterday the Oilers re-signed the native of Yaroslavl, Russia, to a one-year contract believed to be in the neighbourhood of $1.5-million, although financial terms were not disclosed. "

"Another of the Edmonton Oilers puck-moving defencemen is staying put. Denis Grebeshkov has a new one-year contract that will pay him $1.5 million US for the upcoming 2008-09 season. He made $950,000 in the season past, which was his first with the Oilers and his first back in the NHL since the 2005-06 campaign."

"So the Edmonton Oilers weren't worried about rival teams trying to raid their stockpile of good, young players approaching restricted free agency. Right. That's what general manager Kevin Lowe told the Edmonton media early last week. "We have no concerns in keeping the team we'd like to keep," is how he phrased it. Now we know why."

" Yesterday the Oilers announced they had come to terms with Nilsson on a three-year contract extension worth $6-million. The contract will pay him $1.5-million next year, $2-million the following season and $2.5-million in the final year."

"Life, as Edmonton Oilers winger Robert Nilsson knows it, is pretty darn good these days. Not only did he get a hefty raise, and a three-year commitment from the Oilers, he will soon be making his first appearance with the Swedish national team at the world hockey championship."

"The Edmonton Oilers' defenceman of the year is now the club's cornerstone of the future. Tom Gilbert, after just 94 games in the National Hockey League, has a six-year, $24-million contract, which puts him in rather select company."

" Yesterday Lowe was back it with a six-year deal for defenceman Tom Gilbert. The Oilers are quickly changing the perception of Edmonton being a have-not franchise. "

" However, Gilbert decided to put pen to paper now and came to terms on a new six-year, $24-million deal with the Oilers announced yesterday. It is expected Robert Nilsson will follow suit at $5.5-million for three years, although that's yet to be made official. "

" "We have Denis (Grebeshkov) and Joni's (Pitkanen) contracts coming up," said Oilers general manager Kevin Lowe. "We have (Robert) Nilsson, (Marc) Pouliot and (Jarret) Stoll. So there's lots of work to do and that's pretty much the norm in the NHL." Grebeshkov and Pitkanen are two keys on the back end for the Oilers. "

"Centre Chris Vande Velde can't brag, at least not with portfolio, about his latest attempt at fitting in with the boys on the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux hockey team. "We all decided to grow moustaches this year," the Edmonton Oilers draft pick said before departing for the NCAA Frozen Four playoffs which begin today at Denver's Pepsi Center. "Mine is coming in pretty thick, as you can see.""

"Defencemen Tom Gilbert, Denis Grebeshkov and Joni Pitkanen are set to become RFAs, as are Jarret Stoll and Robert Nilsson. Marty Reasoner, Curtis Glencross and Geoff Sanderson will be unrestricted on July 1. "Am I concerned about our RFAs? Not one bit," said Lowe. "

"Sam Gagner doesn't turn 19 until August. And not only does he figure to keep getting better, it will be more than a decade before it makes any sense at all to say Gagner's getting older, in the downside-of-the-hill sense."

"It only took a phone call to convince defenceman Steve Staios to sign up for another tour with Team Canada. No arm twisting was required -- which was just as well, given that the Edmonton Oilers veteran is still feeling the effects of the club's all-out run down the stretch."

"Roloson sucked it up in the last three weeks when Mathieu Garon went down with his sprained ankle and no matter how many goals he let in, he gave the Oilers a legitimate playoff shot."

"The Edmonton Oilers have always been big on the World Hockey Championships. If healthy and not in the middle of a playoff run, the Oilers always encourage their players to take part in the event if invited. This year that invitation has been extended to the coaching staff as Craig MacTavish was named an assistant for Team Canada yesterday. He along with Pat Burns and Mike Johnson were added to the staff headed up by Ken Hitchcock of the Columbus Blue Jackets. "

" Day after day, for two straight years, Craig MacTavish's legion of critics choked the airwaves with cries for change. The coach has to go, they insisted, because he doesn't know how to develop kids and he doesn't know what to do with offensive players. "

"Sam Gagner is certain it won't be as simple as hitting the repeat button. But he does have every intention of avoiding the syndrome of many sophomores."

"The Oilers should be most worried that somebody in the West will make a rogue Group 2 free-agent strike on rearguard Tom Gilbert this summer."

"If that was Jarret Stoll's last game as an Edmonton Oiler, he went out with a bang. If it was merely an advertisement for what comes next, the Oilers might want to hang onto him."

" Bad year. There's no other way to describe it. Three even strength goals and a plus-minus that ranks in the bottom 10 of the entire NHL. This wasn't the kind of season Jarret Stoll was expecting as a springboard into restricted free agency this summer. "

" From a Stanley Cup in June to an offer sheet in July, to a firestorm of controversy and the centre of a very public feud between his old general manager and his new one, Dustin Penner had a lot on his plate this season. A lot on his plate? Oh, yeah, we forgot to mention all the cracks about his weight. "

"After shedding a few extraneous pounds and the stigma of his hefty contract, Dustin Penner went on to score 23 goals while adding 24 helpers in his first 82 games as an Edmonton Oiler. The next 82 should be even more productive."

" In the end their play drew rave reviews. But there was a time when Denis Grebeshkov and Ladislav Smid didn't fit in on the Edmonton Oilers blue line. "

" Kyle Brodziak said at the start of the season it would take until the Edmonton Oilers year-end banquet for him to feel comfortable with his place in the NHL."

" Dustin Penner is growing into his spot as the first line left-winger. Robert Nilsson is oozing skill on the kid line. Ethan Moreau has a spot reserved on the third. Curtis Glencross ignited the fourth. So where does that leave Raffi Torres? "

"MacTavish went on to say that there are a few other grey areas that will get sorted out between now and the start of the 2008-09 season. One of those, of course, is where Raffi Torres will fit in. After 32 mostly forgettable games, the mercurial winger was sidelined with a knee injury."

" Two seasons ago, the Oilers had problems finding anybody to stop the puck. This year they couldn't find enough playing time for both puck stoppers. "

"Sam Gagner is certain it won't be as simple as hitting the repeat button. But he does have every intention of avoiding the syndrome of many sophomores."

"He could have played with his injured left wrist, which is why Ales Hemsky was going to slip out of his Edmonton Oilers' jersey and onto the Czech Republic's national team. But now that the Oilers star winger is also tending to a sprained knee, he may bypass the world championship and head straight into the off-season."

""We want to overachieve. We expect more and we're going to get more." -- Alain Vigneault, September 2007 The playoff door was open just wide enough to barge through and make a statement Thursday night at GM Place. Instead, the Vancouver Canucks tripped over the threshold, lost their balance and fell flat on their faces in a season-ending 2-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers."

"With the Calgary Flames losing in regulation earlier in Minnesota, the Canucks needed only to beat the battered Edmonton Oilers to give themselves a shot Saturday at securing a spot. But as they have done so often these past two weeks, the Canucks couldn't deliver, losing 2-1 to an Oiler team that had nothing to play for after being eliminated two nights earlier."

"Talk of tomorrow seeped into Craig MacTavish's pre-game preamble -- and it was talk not heard from the Edmonton Oilers coach in off-seasons past. Then again, these are not ordinary times for the Oilers. They closed out the regular season on Thursday -- minus Kyle Brodziak (broken finger) and Ales Hemsky (sprained knee) -- against the Vancouver Canucks, a team in desperate need of a win to continue their playoff push."

"he Oilers will be short a forward for tonight's tilt against the Canucks, but they are apparently long on pride. Kyle Brodziak, who played through the second period and all of the third with a broken ring finger, will not dress. Nor will Ales Hemsky, who has a sprained knee. Geoff Sanderson, who last played on March 4, will draw in, as will defenceman Mathieu Roy. In other words, the Oilers will play seven on the back end, 11 up front, in a game that has playoff implications for the ninth-place Canucks. They trail the Nashville Predators by one point with two games to play for each team."

"Kyle Brodziak will finish the season just two games short of 82, and judging from his pain threshold it's no surprise he has near perfect attendance. The ring finger on his left hand was a mangled mess Tuesday night after a shot in the second period broke it, popped off the nail and split it wide open. "

"Faced with no second- or third-round pick in the June draft, the Edmonton Oilers went down another road and signed Michigan State captain Bryan Lerg on Tuesday. "He's a smaller version of Fernando Pisani," said Oilers vice-president of hockey operations Kevin Prendergast."

"With the season all but over for the Oilers, all that's left to do is play the role of spoiler. The Canucks are a point behind the eighth-place Nashville Predators and need this game to make a last-gasp push to make it back over the cutoff line. Vancouver closes out the season on Saturday against Calgary."

"Can the Canucks continue their 4-0-3 dominance of the Oilers this season and -- more importantly -- get a lead and hang on to it? They have failed to hold leads in three of their past five outings. And in losing five of their past six, three losses to Los Angeles loom large."

"The Oilers' playoff race came to an end Tuesday -- far sooner than they hoped, but much later than most expected -- when they were defeated 3-2 by the Calgary Flames at Rexall Place."

"The four shirtless dudes who painted letters on their chests that spelled H-O-P-E refused to cover up when it was announced the Nashville Predators won in overtime. However, when the final buzzer sounded on a 3-2 Calgary Flames win, they likely headed to the bar to meet their pals adorned with the L-E-S-S. "

"For now, the Flames and their followers will have to content themselves with knocking the Edmonton Oilers out of the post-season picture, which Calgary did thanks to a 3-2 victory at Rexall Place."

" For the last few years the battle between Robyn Regehr and Ales Hemsky has been one-sided. According to Craig MacTavish it's also been rife with transgressions the league should have looked into. "